This article is an excerpt from Episode 11 of The Injection Connection, featuring a highlight from the landmark conversation between retired industry legend Captain Grout (aka Paul Layman) and his number one protégé and unofficial successor, The Grout Geek (podcast host Charlie Lerman).  If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.

Charlie Lerman: What's the biggest failure or problem you've had on a job?

Paul Layman: I don't know. We did that big building in San Francisco where the building is actually leaning now. And that was unique because the biggest problem there occurred when some guys were drilling in and they hit a cable. Luckily they didn't blow that cable - it was a 10,000 watt box or wattage thing and fortunately they weren't standing on the pump when they hit the cable. Those are things you've got to be careful with. And safety is incredible down there because you could be out in a mine a mile back or down a shaft and if something goes wrong, you can't get out quick and you're in the mud and muck up to your knees. On one job we were down a mile in a tunnel and one of the gates broke. It was in a dam and the water went from our boots up to our knees. Again, so, those are things you really have to be cognizant of and keep all your ducks in a row to be ready for any emergency that could come up.

Charlie: Right. Especially in confined spaces. Like you said, they offer unique challenges on top of what you normally run into anyway.

Paul: Exactly.

Charlie: What have been some of the challenges on dams and large projects like that, specifically in regard to the Corp of Engineers or the Bureau of Rec? What kind of challenges have you had personally in dealing with them?

Paul: The biggest problem I ran into with both of those organizations, was that their people sometimes overthought the project. You'd spend six to eight months getting the project ready and designing it, then all of a sudden, they say, “Oh, we can't do it this year.” Just like that big job up there in California, I can't think of the name, where the dam blew out.

Charlie: I remember what you’re talking about, but I can’t think of the name either.

Paul: It was just up there by Chico, California. We had shown them how to fix that problem a couple years before and gave them some really good ideas, but they said they couldn't afford it. And then when the whole structure blew out, the spillways blew out, they had to spend billions of dollars. If only they hadn't been so cheap in the first place and changed their mind in the last second. It's kind of frustrating because you've done all this due diligence, you lay out your scheme, then all of a sudden in the last minute they say, “Oh, no, we're not going to do it.” 

Charlie: Yes, thank you very much.

View the video version of this excerpt...

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